hair and fashion

link love //

March 28, 2014 by Rachel Leave a Comment

Calm.com // If you’re struggling to find a way to meditate or wind down, this is amazeballs.

Simple Science Fitness // Regardless of what ‘meal plan’ (I hate the term ‘diet’) you follow, this is a dumb-it-down, it-is-what-it-is, explanation of the science behind gaining weight, losing weight, or maintaining your current weight.

Because I totally love Jennifer Lawrence // I know so many people hate her, but she’s adorable and funny. And real.

So here:

[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny4FtbBd6hI/]

I Heart Cleveland‘s Giveaway for 2 Tickets to Rock The Catwalk at the Cleveland Museum of Art Atrium // The event is on Thursday May 1st at 6:30PM in the beautiful Cleveland Museum of Art Atrium! Tickets are $125 a piece, but you can win them on the I Heart CLE Blog!

Thug Kitchen // Because OMG this exists?!

Hahahahaha! Hilarious AND sounds delish!

weekend highlights //

March 6, 2014 by Rachel 1 Comment

It’s a little late, but here are scenes from the weekend …

Ari is talking (gibberish) non-stop:

We ate a late lunch, complete with tea (and crayons — cause that’s what happens when you lunch with a 16-month old):

I officially started to crave Spring weather & Spring clothes:

I spent a good amount of time snuggling my happy baby:

Our weekend may seem boring to most people, but it was totally perfect for us. 🙂

Anchored in CLE // Giveaway and Blogiversary

February 7, 2014 by Rachel 3 Comments

Local CLE Blogger Jess from Anchored In CLE is celebrating her first Blogiversary!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go visit her blog. While I have yet to meet this sweet blogger in real life, we’re bound to cross paths soon enough! We ‘run in the same (blog) circles’ of sorts! Ha!

Jessica is documenting her life through her blog. Over the last year she’s been writing about fashion, health and fitness, and all things Northeast Ohio! What more could a girl ask for!? 🙂

And to celebrate her Blogiversary she’s hosting a giveaway of a pair of adorable TOMS! In addition to the TOMS, she’s giving away 3 Pura Vida bracelets which benefit the American Heart Association.

{Top L-R: Rachael / The Rachael Way; Me (Jessica / Anchored in CLE); Rachel / It’s a Hero}
{Bottom L-R: Ashliegh / The Darling Prepster; Margaret / Life After Athens; Lisa / Ameliorer la Vie}

You can enter to win the TOMS and the bracelets using the rafflecopter widget below! 🙂

As a BONUS for all readers use code CHD10 for 10% off any bracelet on the PuraVidaBracelets website!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

rock or dye //

January 30, 2014 by Rachel 3 Comments

… my hair, that is!!

About 4 years ago, I found my first grey hair. Chad thought it was hilarious. At 34, he claimed to have never had a single grey hair. Meanwhile, I, at age 25, had gotten my first. (He’s a big liar, by the way 😉 … I told him he just hadn’t noticed his grey hair because he keeps his head shaved. LOL.)

Every so often since that day, I’ll find a random, HUGE, grey hair. SO big and SO long that I’ll wonder “How in Gods name have I not noticed that!?”

Then I finally braved the pixie cut.

And a couple of short months later, I noticed the sides of my hair (I guess it would be sideburns? Ha! Do chicks with short hair call them sideburns??) were actually greying. Like, big time. And I pretty much asked everyone “Why didn’t you tell me this was happening!?” Everyone claims to not have noticed (liars).

But I decided that I’m not quite ready to start dying my hair. Once I do start, I know I’m going to have to continue to do it all the time. I’m already committed to the pixie; I can’t commit to color, too!

So for now, I’ll just be rocking the grey. But when I do decide to color, it will be bold! 😉

I totally totally love having red hair! 😉 Soon enough, hair! Soon enough!!

Saturday Randoms //

January 25, 2014 by Rachel 1 Comment

Yesterday Chad left for a boys weekend, of sorts. Which means this mama had the night to herself! And what did I do?? Go wild and crazy, of course! That’s right… I cleaned the house AND kept a fire going… all while watching trashy Real Housewives on the DVR. Wild and crazy, right!?

I had plans for today but we kinda got snowed in. #BabyAri and I left this morning to run one errand and it ended up taking nearly an hour round-trip. In.SANE! It was crazy dangerous and I had a few mini panic attacks. But we made it back. Just in time to put Ari down for his morning nap. Once he fell asleep, I had to work on starting a fire (my first!) and getting my car up the driveway (which took an hour…).

Ari was hilarious today. He had a few naughty moments, which warranted time-outs. But every time he went into time out, I would avoid looking at him. And then I look over and he’s smirking and thinking it’s HYSTERICAL. Which made me laugh and then time out was just a waste…

I found a hidden bottle of sparkling rosé in the pantry tonight. I not-so-elegantly paired it with a few homemade Gluten Free Chocolate Chip cookies that Ari and I made earlier. It was a lovely end to this crazy snow day!

I spent 2.5 hours and $200 at the eye doctor yesterday. It was painful (in many ways) but I’m super excited to have my annual eye exam behind me. And excited that I’m getting a new pair of glasses (first pair in 10 years!) plus gas permeable lenses — which are new to me! As someone who’s worn soft lenses since she was 12, this is a big change! When I told my eye doctor that friends would say “oh no, I get it — my eyes are real bad….” he said that they had nothin’ on me! Ha! Are you eligible for lasik?? I’m like the only person on the planet that isn’t. He said I’m eligible for visual prosthesis in my late-40s, early 50s. That’s right…. Eye transplant. LOL. So yeah, I’m blind, folks. And a hundred bucks says I’m more blind than you. #IWin #ButILose

Ari loves to vacuum with me. I swear if the kid could talk he’d say that the highlight of his day was getting in the Baby Bjorn and vacuuming with me. Ha!

I didn’t have a chance to paint my nails during my doctor extravaganza yesterday, so I painted them today during Babycakes first nap. Not perfect, but good enough for a first shot!

I’m actually kind of nervous about my first day in my new position on Monday. I mean, I’m ready but I’m nervous. Weird!

REPREVE // Review + Giveaway

January 3, 2014 by Rachel 9 Comments

I’ve been called a hippy a LOT. I, in fact, prefer to be referred to as ‘crunchy-granola.’ Why? Because that means absolutely nothing to most people. To us it means that we’re very eco- and health-conscious and do things that may seem ‘weird’ to other people.

I love finding companies who share the same philosophies and put them into action, which is why when I was introduced to REPREVE I fell in eco-love!

REPREVE is a recycled fiber that helps turn plastic bottles you recycle into cool stuff you can wear and use every day. Now there’s no excuse not to recycle!

A lot of brands you love use REPREVE to make their products greener:

• Volcom graphic t-shirts are made with REPREVE, using 2 recycled plastic bottles.
• One Patgonia fleece jacket with REPREVE has 40 recycled plastic bottles, so you can be a real “active-ist.”
• Life Khaki by Haggar uses REPREVE to put 7 recycled plastic bottles in every pair of pants; so wear what you believe.

Other brands made with REPREVE: The North Face, Polartec, Patagonia, Beija-Flor, Lauren Conrad’s XO(eco) by Blue Avocado, Swiftwick socks, and more.

I was already a fan of companies like Patagonia and The North Face for their philosophies on nature and love of the outdoors, so to find out that these companies are also acting responsibly. And it’s nice to hear that all of our recycling efforts are not in vain! Our bottles are being turned into fabric which is being turned into awesome clothes!

REPREVE will take recycling to new heights with a special green event at the 2014 Winter X Games Aspen (Jan. 23-26, 2014).

It’s not just about free swag, though. This is an event with a serious mission: to show the world that we have to get everybody involved in recycling—to create a reprieve for the planet.

The luckiest plastic bottles get made into a recycled fleece beanie made from REPREVE. One REPREVE green beanie is made from 6 recycled plastic bottles! SIX bottles!

I have one of these amazing beanies and it’s been keeping this pixie cut head warm for the last week! Comfort + style + eco-friendly = HUGE win!

PLUS I have a second beanie for one of YOU! Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter to win a REPREVE Fleece Beanie of your own!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, friends! And keep trying to #TurnItGreen!